


Lifting Spirits

by Meilan_Firaga



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Sexual Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:28:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23304649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meilan_Firaga/pseuds/Meilan_Firaga
Summary: Stephen Strange has returned to the world of medicine until this pandemic is under control, but the stress is significant. It's a good thing his girlfriend has a plan to give him a little TLC.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Stephen Strange
Comments: 3
Kudos: 54





	Lifting Spirits

**Author's Note:**

> I've been self-isolating for over a week now, and I needed a little StrangeTaser fluff to cheer me up with everything that's going on. <3 <3 I hope everyone is taking care during these stressful times. Wash your hands!

Stephen Strange had not been so bone tired since he was still doing his residency. Every inch of him ached, from his feet to his head to the farthest limits of his magical capabilities. He'd left the Sanctum to Wong and the others when it became clear that the hospitals were going to need all hands on deck. He wasn't alone in volunteering to try and help out with the whole pandemic situation. For the last two weeks he'd worked side by side with med school students and retirees alike. Finally, things were looking up. The numbers were beginning to decline.

He didn't even have the energy to open a portal home. Not that he should, anyway. Portals didn't exactly have a built in decontamination shower. So, when he finally got the go-ahead to head out for the evening he pulled out his Stark phone and selected an app Tony had installed. By the time he'd changed out of his scrubs and made it outside there was a car waiting for him.

Normally Stephen wasn't much for taking advantage of Stark's heavy-handed "world hero perks", but after the day—weeks, really—that he'd had he really needed things to be easy. Easy meant a driverless car delivering him straight to Avengers Tower and the secure private entrance to the living quarters on the two floors. Stark had built state-of-the-art decontamination tech into the elevator. All Stephen had to do for the long ride up from the underground parking garage was stand upright and let the technology work its magic. He didn't have an apartment at the Tower. Stark had offered, but commuting to and from the Sanctum would have been senseless. He had, however, agreed to tour the place so he'd have a good basis if he ever needed to pop in with the use of a sling ring. That was the day he'd met the real reason he spent time at the Tower.

Darcy Lewis was an absolute firecracker. She'd started out as intern to a world class astrophysicist, moved up to handling the labs of the most important players related to The Avengers, and had somehow ended up handling The Avengers themselves. After their first brief meeting he'd found her on the doorstep of the Sanctum with what she called a 'welcome packet to the whole superhero gig': four tins of homemade cookies, a dossier filled with information about important Avengers and personnel that had been notated with sparkly purple pen ("do not call him Captain Eyepatch" next to Nicholas J. Fury, "hates ballet, loves brutal hockey fights" by the Black Widow, etc.), and a card with her personal phone number that he was encouraged to use at the next available opportunity. He wasn't too ashamed to admit that he'd fallen head over heels.

He let his feet carry him to her door without really paying attention to what he was doing. JARVIS opened the door before he reached it, the heavy panel swinging inward as he trudged into the familiar comfort of his girlfriend’s living room. While everything at the Sanctum was dark woods and heavy fabrics, Darcy’s apartment was an eclectic mix of light and comfort. Strings of fairy lights criss-crossed the living room ceiling and every squashy piece of furniture was piled high with pillows and blankets. His girlfriend, however, was nowhere to be seen.

“Darcy?” Stephen called when he stopped just inside the door to kick off his shoes. He wasn’t sure whether the scent on the air was actual sugar cookies, any number of the candles she was constantly forgetting to blow out, or the perfume she’d picked for the day. “Are you home?”

“Bedroom!” Her response was bright and chipper. It washed over him like a balm, soothing every battered nerve. He shed his hoodie as he moved further into the apartment, dropping it over the back of the couch on his way to the bedroom. He stopped dead in the doorway when he saw exactly why she sounded so happy.

JARVIS must have alerted her that he was coming. That was the only way he could figure that she would have known to do exactly what she was doing. He’d never been more thankful for the AI’s meddling tendencies. Darcy was posed on her side on top of the comforter, one hand propping up her head. Her hair tumbled loose and wild over her shoulders. She was wearing her special occasion glasses—cherry red cat-eye frames with rhinestones sparkling at the outer edge. The only other thing she had on was a long, twinkling strand of multicolored Christmas lights.

“There’s all these posts going around the internet,” she began conversationally, “about people putting up their Christmas lights super out of season.” She shifted and a blinking red bulb brushed across one pert nipple, making her give the faintest little gasp before she continued. “It’s supposed to help raise peoples’ spirits with everything that’s going on.” Stephen watched, enraptured, as she lifted one hand and traced the winding path of the string of lights from her collarbone over her breasts to her hips and down the length of her thigh. By the time his eyes made it back to her face she was giving him one of her cheekiest grins. “I was going to ask if your spirits were lifted, but I think I can see the proof of that from here.”

It was possible that his level of exhaustion may have been exaggerated. 


End file.
